Safety scholarship recipient announced

The Canada Safety Council is very pleased to announce Cheryl Joseph of Oakville, ON, as the recipient of the Sarah Beth Therien Memorial Scholarship.

The $2,500 award recognizes Cheryl’s exceptional leadership in safety-oriented efforts. Cheryl initiated and organized a one-day event at her high school with 17 different workshops and keynote speakers to educate students on personal safety topics that school curriculums are often unable to adequately address.

These topics include cyber-bullying, mental health, eating disorders, self-harm and sexual assault. The workshops also identified and addressed concerns about incidents of violence on post-secondary campuses, and how graduating students can be healthy and take responsibility for their personal safety as they transition from high school to post-secondary life.

The idea for the workshops blossomed from a kickboxing class Cheryl took when she became interested in self-defence and taking responsibility for her personal safety.

In preparing for the workshops, Cheryl and her team conducted surveys and interviewed students and staff for anecdotal struggles related to personal safety topics. Recognizing that safety threats can affect anyone, this inspired the theme ‘if it can happen to me, it can happen to you,’ which in turn gave the personal safety day its name: ‘IF Day.’

Cheryl is entering her first year of studies at McMaster University in September, and will be taking health sciences.

“We are extremely proud of young Canadians like Cheryl who take on creative initiatives and who are committed to improving safety in their homes, school and communities,” said Jack Smith, president of the CSC.

The scholarship honours the memory of Sarah Beth Therien, a long-time employee of the Canada Safety Council and a passionate advocate for child and traffic safety. Sarah made medical history in 2006 as the first Canadian organ donor after cardiac death. Her medical legacy has gone on to save hundreds of lives so far, a number that continues to grow week after week.

The award is also intended to raise the profile of safety in the minds of young Canadians.

The CSC wishes to sincerely thank all those who applied to the scholarship competition.

Our goal is to award the scholarship annually. If you are interested in donating to support the Canada Safety Council with this initiative, please contact our office at (613) 739-1535 ext. 221.

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For more information, please contact:

Catherine Gaudreau

Communications/Media Program Coordinator, Canada Safety Council

(613) 739-1535 (ext. 228)